Kingdom quartet return to training

Kerry coach Jack O’Connor has been boosted by the return to training of Donnchadh Walsh, Bryan Sheehan, Peter Crowley and Marc Ó Sé.

Kerry have been missing Walsh’s work rate this year and he missed the National League with an ongoing hip/groin problem. Indeed the half-forward will return to hospital in Dublin today to get to root of his injury nightmare.

Walsh lined out for Kerry last Saturday when the Kingdom easily defeated Sligo in a challenge game and while he is unlikely to start against Westmeath in the qualifier, he may play some part on Sunday week in Mullingar.

Sheehan also played in last Saturday’s outing, kicking some long-range frees, and suffered no adverse reaction.

Their timely appearances were also aided by Crowley and Marc Ó Sé’s return to full training this week.

“Donnchadh Walsh and Bryan Sheehan have the type of injuries that need to be managed,” said Kerry selector Ger O’Keeffe. “We’ll just have to see day by day and session by session how they react to training and playing again. Accordingly, this is when you need to have a very strong panel. We expect to have everyone available but we are still over a week away from our return to action.”